Swedish/Strategic Overview
Strengths *Stronger pikemen and galleys compared to other European factions *Fast-producing pikemen, galleys, medium cavalry, support units, and light infantry *Bonuses in naval production and construction Weaknesses *Somewhat poor economic bonuses *Galleys and pikemen may be obsolete in the face of more modern units The main virtue of Swedish land armies rests on one factor: speed and shock factor. From the beginning, Sweden's unique infantry, cavalry and naval units are created faster, and also have different bonuses: the frigate galley, although a galley, is faster, shoots further and more manoeuvreable; while Swedish infantry have cheaper upgrades, and its cavalry deal greater damage. At the heart of the Swedish army is one unit: the pikeman. Although most armies generally ignore pikemen once they reach the Mercantile Era, the Swedish continue using the Kalmar pike regiments, which seems to have more in common with the Native American and Asian factions, but there the similarity ends. Not only are these units created almost instantly, but they also have better speed than most heavy pike units. Pikemen are often a good low-cost alternative to grenadiers where anti-cavalry solutions are required, especially since they are created from a barracks, not an academy. A faster pikemen regiment can often mean the difference between life and death for foot muskets facing cavalry sabres. Sweden is also a bit of an oddity in that it is the only faction to train all three types of cavalry: its hackapells and livgardet are popwerful, hussar-like units; while its "line cavalry" line starts off with cavalry guards and regimental cavalry, which later upgrade to heavy cuirassiers and lancers. This means that a Swedish army can often consist mostly of infantry and light and medium cavalry at the beginning for defence, while booming at home to create "cheaper" cuirassier units by upgrading the cheaper regimental cavalry unit upon reaching the Imperial Era. Equally, all Swedish units often tend to produce faster than those of other factions. Logistics-wise, the Swedes also have the benefit of free spawning officer units from fortresses and supply wagons from the factory whenever any of these buildings are built, population cap willing. By no means, however, do Swedish bonuses end there - as a nation of shipbuilders, Sweden has bonuses associated with timber production, and its weapons industry - one of the world's most advanced - also is represented by its supply wagons' ability to replenish damaged units and its artillery's speed at deployment. Thus, an ideal strategy using Sweden often involves the use of better galleys to fill in choke points at sea, and Sweden's fast-producing army and its equally speedy pikemen to outpace opponents. A useful tactic would be to create an army consisting of skirmishers (who take down war elephants, rocket men and grenadiers with ease) supported by your artillery, musketeers and pikemen. However, the lack of any unique units after the Imperial Era means that Sweden will often find itself outgunned if facing down other factions with more UUs such as France and Russia. Sweden's best bet once other factions reach the Imperial Era would therefore be to ally itself with the Western Powers, and prey on the less well-developed factions, particularly the Malay kingdoms, Italy, Spain or China.